Dysarthria syndromes in adult cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a neurologic disorder that results from damage to the infant brain. The most common communication impairment in CP is dysarthria. There are inconsistent reports of different dysarthria syndromes in the CP types (spastic, dyskinetic, and ataxic), and it remains unclear if dysarthria syndromes of CP can be classified based on a classification system established for dysarthrias acquired in adulthood. Twenty-two adult patients with CP participated. Dysarthria was assessed using the Bogenhausen Dysarthria Scales (BoDyS). Patients were further classified for their dysarthria syndromes by three experts. The BoDyS profiles of three comparison groups of spastic (stroke and progressive supranuclear palsy, spastic type), hyperkinetic (Huntington's disease), and ataxic (hereditary ataxias) dysarthria acquired in adulthood underwent a linear discriminant analysis. The resulting discriminant function coefficients were applied to the BoDyS profiles of the CP participants to empirically classify their speech disorders. The observed dysarthric patterns matched the expected syndromes of spastic, hyperkinetic, and ataxic dysarthria. However, dysarthria syndromes dissociated with CP types in many cases. The classification of speech impairment should therefore be conducted independently from CP type.